TacCom Duaload Shotgun Caddies

In competition, shotgun reloading can make or break a stage. I have tried a 4 shell caddy where you use your thumb to load, and it’s an awkward motion for me that I know would require a lot of practice. I luckily ran into another alternative which I think shows a lot of promise.

The TacCom Duaload shotgun shell caddy

A company called TacCom makes a different system called Duaload. Two shells are stacked on top each other, and you use your whole hand + thumb in a sweeping motion to load two shells at a time.

Loading two shells

Different view of two shotgun shells getting loaded.

It still requires practice like anything else, but I found that the learning curve on the Dualoads was much lower and it felt more natural. The jury’s still out, but so far I’m really liking the Duaload approach.

Chris Cheng is History Channel’s Top Shot Season 4 champion. A self-taught amateur turned pro through his Top Shot win, Cheng very much still considers himself an amateur who parachuted into this new career. He shares his thoughts and experiences from the perspective of a newbie to the shooting community. www.TopShotChris.com.

He didn’t buy anything, just made the things out of plastic and some screws. Says it’s very fast. You can basically almost rest the shells on the feedramp and push the pair in. It takes quite a bit of room from your belt but you can still pretty much shoot every stage from them.

Doug

I’ve just now tried that style of loading. Interesting.

Glenn B

Maybe loading like that is okay for the range or for an Administrative Reload but it sure as heck is not a tactical reload to be used during a combat situation (a shooting incident) and I would think the point of wearing that shell rig would be tactical in nature. So te guy is loading two shels almost at once. Yet, the gun is off of the shoulder, the gun is upside down, it would have to go through a few manipulations to bring it into action again, the right hand (assuming this guy was right handed) is not gripping the pistol grip ready to bring the gun into action and start shooting with a partial or full reload. The advanatge you would lose, in a gunfight, while loading like that instead of doing a tactical reload, would be a big one. But yeah, it looks cool.

All the best,
Glenn B

Noodles

Glen is absolutely right. The issue isn’t that this company isn’t pushing “tactical” use though…. It’s the there is even a such an acceptable distinction between Competition and Real World methods.

The only time I would load a shotgun upside down like this is during one handed loading where I don’t have a choice, I need gravity to help me. All other situations, by loading the gun upside down, ask yourself where your eyes are..? They’re on the ground. Not on the threat/prey/target ahead of you. Just because you knew what was there last time you looked doesn’t mean it hasn’t changed – in the real world – in competition of course it hasn’t changed. Loading like this is a real world (or “Tactical” in Glen’s post) recipe for disaster.

I’d love to see competition changed where doing things like this were frowned upon. Rather instead of people on this site realizing that techniques and methods might extend past the given scenario, Glen gets beat up here because it’s OK to do stupid things in competition and how dumb must Glen be to point out how this might not be great for tactical use.

You train like you fight. If you 3Gun and load like this, chances are if you ever need a shotgun in the real world, you’re going to attempt to load like this. Bad idea.

LJK

Wait, are you actually saying that people should not have a shooting _sport_ as a hobby and play the game with the set rules, because one day zombies/communists/badkoreans/aliens/TheMan might come and attack you, and then you are shit out of luck because you’re not keeping your eyes on your target/you are using a match grade gun instead of a Glock/you have a bright shirt on instead of the latest camo pattern/whatever?

Sport is sport, fighting is fighting. This is not a stupid thing to do in a competition because it gives you an edge. Not a single person here is saying that what works in competition works in a previously mentioned tactical cool guy scenario.

Not all, I like hobbies, but I’ve found that when they are kept in reality, they’re much more enjoyable. If you want to shoot games where a DQ is the result for something you would absolutely do in real life have at it.

I race cars, but I don’t own a dedicated racecar or anything I would never find myself in should I need to break the speed limit or get away from a dangerous situation. I reload but not to a point where absolute precision is a must and every over .001″ runout is tossed to give myself the ultimate advantage. I run but don’t devote my entire life to it because I like food too much. I shoot competition but I do it from concealment and lose to weak reloads from long slide guns in race holsters that no one could ever conceal.

It’s so easy to get to the point where you lose track of what’s really important and fun in a hobby. I’m a realist, it allows me to enjoy things for what they are, what they were meant to be, not get caught up in a mindset that is focus solely on absolute performance.

Your strawman comments are probably the lamest thing I’ve read on this site. Not sure where you were going with that.

george

Glen, you’re completely missing the point of this product. It’s for 3-gun competition games.

http://www.TopShotChris.com Chris Cheng

Thanks George for helping clarify. Glenn B- I should have made it clear in my post that Dualoads are for a competition application.

I agree with you that it may not be optimal for a tactical combat situation, but that’s outside of my realm of knowledge so I’ll defer to other readers to comment.

gunslinger

i saw this as a competition item, not tactical. I can see the benefit of loading 2 rounds in 1 motion instead of a 1:1. but do you give up quantity for speed?

http://www.TopShotChris.com Chris Cheng

I think the quantity vs speed questions is key. There are a few YouTube videos that show shooters timing themselves taking a shot to start the timer, then loading 9 rounds and firing to stop the clock. Top notch shooters can get in the 5-6 second range with the traditional shell caddy, but I haven’t seen any videos of the Dualoads being timed.

I plan to time myself at some point, but I still need more practice The main point I was trying to make with my post is that for competition shotgunners who struggle with the shell caddy method, the Duaload could be a great alternative since the learning curve is much lower.

Denny

Stotgun speedloading in an interesting subject. I was involved with designing it once personaly. There are not that many options; probably the most common is seen on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWyi88YBZ9M

As far as the best could be probably box magazine; but I realize this does not pass at competitions.

Noodles

Best is not a box magazine. For a shotgun and all the advantages provided by such large (in size, to handle) and versatile ammo, a tube and large open chamber make the most sense imo. For this reason, I can’t really consider the KSG, or my Saiga.

I like your video of the speed tubes. I wouldn’t like carrying those stuffed down my pants. If I wouldn’t use them real world, I wouldn’t use them for competition, that’s just me though, I know I’m rare in that regard. So for me, it’s velcro side saddle cards and loading the manual way.

I’m also not sure I like the potential to fumble and having to line up the stick and hole at such an awkward angle, esp while trying to move. But it does look like an interesting idea. One other thing, it looks great with an empty gun and you have the exact number of rounds ready to load on the kitchen table in front of you but what happens when you try and load one round too many in that gun? You pretty much have to abort and drop one right? Well, cool, but probably not for me.

Noodles

In that first pic we can see 14 rounds that take up the entire front of guys belt. Strictly for competition I would think a couple of those 4×4 quick loaders would be WAY more efficient for space.

I don’t know how big dude is, but I know when I load up for shotgun I have a raven module loader and a double mag carrier and my PPQ and that’s pretty much IT for front belt and side room. Add AR and I will pretty much have to go leg harness. Maybe this is for guys with 40+” waists? At 34″ I just don’t have the belt real estate for something so inefficient.

http://www.TopShotChris.com Chris Cheng

Hi Noodles,

I have a 32″ waist and if we saw a wide angle pic, I have 16 shotgun rounds that pretty much take up the entire front half of my belt. Most shotgun stages start with shotguns loaded, so I’ve got 9 in the gun and most stages won’t require any more than 16 additional rounds. Pistol holster on my right side in it’s normal place. Two pistol magazines on my belt + one in the gun has me covered, and then I have a dual AR-15 mag holder.

http://na tom – uk

At the European prractical shotgun championship in the czech republic in 2008/2009 the Germans had chest rigs and belts they completely dominated the show and we are adapting to it too. The system is far more efficient for loading and requires less practice.

Nice write up Chirs!! Actually, yes, this style of loading was developed for the 3 gun game. However, it’s been my experience that the equipment and techniques that win in 3 gun are typically further developed for use in other arenas within the industry. While Chris uses the DUALOAD on his belt, the system has been developed to be used on MOLLE vests for use in the Military and Law Enforcement.

Also, in hunting, Duck hunters have realized that with only being allowed 3 shells in their Semi’s and Pumps, they can take 2 shots, quickly load 2 more and be up and shooting in a matter of moments.

The DUALODS can be purchased in 2, 4, 6, 8 12 and 16up configurations and can be mounted on the belt, used as molle inserts, mounted on the chest and with the mounting systems…..be changed around to meet your needs in a specific application as the requirements warrent it.

Cyrano

I would think a tube feed with a two shell cutout at the top would be faster and less prone to losing shells. All I can think of when I see that belt is the shells getting loose as you run and jostle around. With a tube feed saber-like unit you can be assured that only two shells are exposed at one time.

http://www.TopShotChris.com Chris Cheng

Do you have a picture of this? I’m trying to imagine what you’ve described, but not sure I understand the concept.

The Dualoads do a great job of holding shells in place. In competition I’m running around and I haven’t had one fall off my belt.

Mike Knox

I think I saw one of these in England once..

alex

This is the worst dual-load system iever tried. Clips are too tight, i can’t grab it straight

http://www.taccom3g.com Tim

The clip’s are adjustable for tension and the backer plates can be rotated up to 30 degrees so that you can have a comfortable grab. Did you not get instructions with your DUALOAD’s?

When the gadgetry gets this elaborate to make up for the deficiencies of a fixed magazine, it’s time to switch to a detachable magazine. How many people run the rifle portion with stripper clips?

noob

hmmm interesting. Are you allowed to use a saiga-12?

Premek

For competition use: This is really the best way to load the fixed tube shotgun. As for the saiga comments – yes, but I do not shoot Saiga because I like pump action, for the feel (personal reason) and for the reliability (objective reason). As for the speed, my split times are (on targets near each other) between 0.2 and 0.3 seconds.

In IPSC shotgun, the chest rigs were really popular during the 2009 European Championships. This year, before the WorldShoot the rules have changed and the chest rigs were disallowed, now we use this in a belt system.

Based on the picture you have here, this is not the most practical system, as it has parts protruding where you need to grab the shells. We currently have special leather belts with ammo capacity 32 rounds, with no protruding parts.

As for the speed, I have a training drill. I start with shotgun held in both hands, at hip level, shotgun touching the hip, muzzle parallel to the ground (common starting position). Two rounds in the gun (one in chamber, one in magazine). After the start signal you raise the shotgun, fire once, load six rounds into the magazine and fire again. Time from the start signal till the last shot around 5 seconds is a good time.

You can make this carrier yourself, I did one of my chest rigs. You just need a piece of hard plastic and several clips for holding plumber’s pipes in 20mm diameter. These have a hole for the screw at the back and they are offset perfectly so that you can get your fingers there. You just screw them to the plastic and that’s it. After that of course a small file will help you get the desired tension (if you mess up, the clips cost next to nothing). As for the spacing, play with it. But the round below needs to be touching the one above it, otherwise you will pinch your skin and mess the reload.

http://gas-piston-springs.com Jyrki

“Load 2″ is so 2008. Nowadays you pretty much have to “load 4″ in order to have some chance in competitions. Look at the winners of the first IPSC shotgun world shoot. I think they all do the “load 4″ thing now. Those shell holders must be closer together in order to be able to grab four shells at a time.

http://WWW.TACCOM3G.COM TIM

Coming out soon! As an alternative.

Bryan S.

Watched a lot of these used well in 3gun games. Some othe similar chest rigs make those ones up there look small.